Prague is a claustrophobic mess. It's beautiful, sure, with those rain-slicked cobblestones and neon lights reflecting off the Vltava River, but it’s a cage. If you’re looking for a Deus Ex walkthrough Mankind Divided style, you probably realized pretty quickly that this game doesn't play like a standard shooter. It’s a puzzle. A messy, political, augment-driven puzzle that rewards the paranoid and punishes the impatient.
Most people mess up their first run because they try to play Adam Jensen like he’s in a Call of Duty montage. He isn't. He’s a glass cannon with a toolbox of high-tech gadgets that run on batteries that drain faster than a smartphone in a dead zone.
Honestly, the "right" way to play is whatever gets you to the credits, but if you want the "Ghost" and "Smooth Operator" bonuses, you need to rethink your entire approach to the Golem City and the Dubai prologue.
The Dubai Trap and Early Skill Points
Dubai is a tutorial that lies to you. It gives you a bunch of toys and tells you to stop a weapon deal, but the real challenge is managing your inventory before you even hit the ground in Prague. If you’re following a Deus Ex walkthrough Mankind Divided to the letter, you know the most important choice happens before you even see a sandstorm: lethal or non-lethal? Long-range or short-range?
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Choose the Tranquilizer Rifle. Seriously.
The stun gun is okay, but the range is abysmal. The Tranq rifle lets you pick off guards from the rafters, and in a game where "Combat" usually ends with Jensen face-down in the dirt, stealth is king. When you finally get to the apartment in Prague after the explosion, don't just rush to the objective. Spend your initial Praxis points on the Icarus Landing System and Hacking Capture Level 2 or 3.
Why? Because the level design in this game is vertical. If you can’t fall from a building without dying, you’re missing half the shortcuts.
Prague is broken into two main hubs. You’ll spend most of your time navigating the North and South sections, separated by a loading screen (the metro). It’s annoying. But those subway rides are where you should be checking your pocket secretaries and emails. The world-building in Mankind Divided isn't in the cutscenes; it’s in the trashy emails between Eidos-Montreal’s fictional NPCs.
Navigating the Golem City Maze
Utulek Complex—better known as Golem City—is a masterpiece of level design, but it’s a nightmare to navigate without a plan. This is where a Deus Ex walkthrough Mankind Divided becomes essential because the pathfinding is intentionally confusing. It’s supposed to feel like a ghetto.
You’re looking for Tibor Sokol.
Don't just follow the waypoint. Talk to the NPCs. There’s a specific golden rule in Mankind Divided: there is always a vent. If a door is locked and your hacking skill is too low, look up. Look behind the vending machine. Move a heavy crate (if you have the lung/arm augments).
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One of the most overlooked parts of the Golem City section is the "Golden Ticket" mission repercussions. Depending on who you helped in Prague, your entry into the throat of the city changes. If you’re trying to stay non-lethal, the Glass-Shield Cloaking is your best friend here, but it hogs energy. Carry biocells. All of them. Buy them from every shady merchant you find because, by the time you reach Viktor Marchenko, you’re going to want that juice.
The Problem With Marchenko
Let’s talk about the "boss fight" that isn't really a fight.
A lot of players get frustrated with the Marchenko encounter toward the end of the game because they built a stealth character and now they’re staring down a cyborg with a heavy machine gun.
- You can find a kill-switch for Marchenko earlier in the game.
- It's hidden in a briefcase under a desk in the GRC section of the London level.
- If you use it, the fight ends in two seconds.
If you don't have the kill-switch, use EMP mines. Marchenko is weak to electricity. Stun him, get behind him, and do a non-lethal takedown. It feels like cheating, but it’s exactly how the game wants you to use your brain over your trigger finger.
The Side Mission "The Harvester" is Mandatory (Mentally)
If you only follow the main quest in a Deus Ex walkthrough Mankind Divided, you’re playing about 40% of the actual game. The side missions in Prague are where the real writing lives. "The Harvester" (SM10) is a murder mystery that actually requires you to look at evidence.
If you just follow the quest marker, you’ll probably frame the wrong person.
You have to find the physical clues—the broken glasses, the blood trail, the hidden notes in the basement. It’s a bit like L.A. Noire but with more augmentations and gloom. This mission is critical because it forces you to actually be a detective, which is Jensen's actual job, despite how much time he spends sneaking through ventilation shafts.
Hacking vs. Multi-tools
People obsess over the hacking minigame. It’s a fun little "capture the node" distraction, but it becomes incredibly difficult in the late game when the firewalls are aggressive.
Invest in the Multi-tool crafting.
If you have enough scrap metal, you can craft a one-time use Multi-tool that bypasses any keypad or terminal instantly. It’s a lifesaver for those Level 5 safes in the Palisade Bank. Speaking of the Palisade Bank—go there. Even if the story doesn't tell you to. It’s the best "dungeon" in the game, filled with high-tier loot and lore that explains what Eidos was trying to do with the "Illuminati" storyline before Square Enix cut the trilogy short.
What Most People Get Wrong About the Ending
The ending of Mankind Divided feels abrupt. You finish the mission in London, and then the credits roll. Many players felt cheated, thinking they missed a third act.
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The reality is that the "ending" is a cumulative result of your choices regarding the Allison Stanek vs. the Bank Heist mission. You can't do both.
If you choose the bank, you get the cure for the Orchid poison. If you choose Allison, you get a bomb jammer. This choice ripples into the final confrontation at the apex of the London summit. To "win" the ending—meaning you save the delegates AND stop the bombs—you have to move fast. Like, really fast.
Actionable Steps for Your Next Run
- Prioritize the Social Enhancer (C.A.S.I.E.) augment. It unlocks unique dialogue paths that skip entire boss fights or fetch quests.
- Sell your shotguns. They take up too much inventory space. Stick to a silenced pistol and a stun gun.
- Explore the sewers. Prague's sewer system is a secondary highway that lets you bypass police checkpoints without having to show your ID (which often leads to a fight).
- Don't ignore the "Experimental" Augs. The Tesla arm is incredible for non-lethal crowd control, even if it makes Jensen's system "unstable" for a bit. Just deactivate a useless skill like "Mark and Track" to balance the heat.
Mankind Divided is a dense, sometimes frustrating game that doesn't hold your hand. It expects you to be a proactive participant in its conspiracy. If you treat it like a sandbox instead of a linear path, you'll find that the "short" story is actually packed with more detail than most 100-hour RPGs.
Stop running. Start looking for the vents.
Check the security computers for "Security Command" to turn off cameras and turrets. It makes the final push through the London convention center infinitely more manageable. If you've managed to keep your "No Kills" streak until the end, remember that Marchenko counts. Don't use a grenade unless it's an EMP.
The most satisfying part of a Deus Ex walkthrough Mankind Divided experience isn't hitting the final cutscene, but realizing you ghosted an entire high-security facility without a single guard knowing you were there. That's the Adam Jensen fantasy.
Load up on biocells before the "Apex" mission. You'll need the cloaking active almost constantly if you're trying to save everyone in the final room. Once the credits roll, check the mid-credits scene. It recontextualizes everything you thought you knew about your therapist, Delara Auzenne, and sets up a sequel that, unfortunately, we’re still waiting for.